Mustard paddles were used for spreading the wealth during the auction and mustard wall flowers had access to a silent auction:

... for audio free bidding action.

This was a fun, spicy kickoff for this year’s festival which includes art, music and food events with the grand finale at Mumm Napa. After all, it is the expectation that those who start at the CIA end up Mumm.

They are both prized for their portability (unless open faced or lattice crusted.)

Cornish miners would take porta-pasty meat and veg packets down the shaft before they went down the hatch. The edge “handle” of pastry would be thrown away (for the same reason plumbers don't eat the last inch of their sandwich.)

The calzone special ($9.75):

... with chicken apple sausage, Cheddar, fontina, tomatoes and avocado was rich in minerals but we didn’t stake a claim to this combination that didn’t strike a culinary alloy-ance.

I commented on the dryness of our Mediterranean Chicken Sandwich ($8.95):

... and Chubby didn’t agree. After I took a bite from his half I discovered a vein of roasted eggplant and pesto that was stripped from mine.

To be fair, this food isn’t meant to be a cole-in-airy explosion, it’s more of a miner-friendly cafe:

... where you don’t shovel over all your dough or get too picky about the chow.

... was a friendly, plum of a wine. Harvested from old vines with extra hang time scared up a deep and complex spirit which we found haunting.

Three color coded rubbish receptacles:

... presented a sobering test for filth filing vinophiles: landfill, compost or recycling. After classifying our cask offs by structure, weight and feel, we were corrected. This left us with an uncanny confusion of the sense of place for their future trashy terroir. Somebody needs to do a PSA to help our sort sort.

Aside from a wealth of winning wines, ZAP events always have Zinfans ranging from people who devote serious, somber, appreciation:

“You want to order that?” the waitress laughed. This is not the first time we have been food profiled. Piehole-pigeon-holing is a popular pastime for eatery employees. On one occasion, as I polished off a large bowl of jellied eels, a waiter confessed that I had just lost him a bet with his colleague.

As far as we could tell, no wagers accompanied our pork kidney and livers ($11.25):

... racing sheets of ginger added some crunchy and slightly fibrous heat while green onions provided a vegetal vig (to this bet on guts that came out even money.) They didn’t inspire us to double down since it did not draw upon spicier seasoning.

We crapped out on the bland prawn noodle with broth ($7.00):

... and our standard bet of pepper and salt squid ($13.25):

... is no longer a sure thing (we missed those flavorful bursts of chewy garlic and pepper bits that we used to scrape onto our rice.) We chewed through all of the jalapenos that came in a soy based dipping sauce:

... and decided that this dish must have been tamed for the tourists.

It’s too bad that this late night dealer hasn’t been paying off for us, but this institution always seems to have players filling up their slots.

The host station at the Cavallo Point restaurant was abandoned and staff galloped by with blinders on as I jockeyed for recognition. I was then corralled into the dining room:

... where I languished furlong time until a surprised server asked, “you haven’t gotten a menu?”

My questrian to put on the feedbag started out a little foal but I finally fillied up with a “lunch tasting” ($23.00). I passed up the burger selection and chose the fish:

... which was poached and showered with fried Brussels sprout leaves on a bed of sweet parsnip puree. This white simmered seafood was completely unseasoned which I remedied with one of their annoying salt grinders (these devices are saddled with a belief that there is some gorgeous fresh ground salt flavor you will release with each twist of this mineral mill.)

We wanted to make a vegan dish that was substantial enough to keep our guests who didn’t enjoy pig flesh fortified so we made a simple bulgur and lentil combo which meatatarians ate as a side dish and those that did not porc-take filled their room with legumes.

Soak bulgur in 2 cups cold water in fridge overnight (the wheat should absorb all the water by the next day.)

Cook lentils per package instructions, drain and season with soy sauce in place of salt.
Heat a couple Tablespoons of olive oil in a large pan and slowly cook onions until they are caramelized to a golden brown.

Toss the bulgur, lentils and onions together in a large bowl and add lemon juice, olive oil, Sriracha sauce, salt and pepper to taste. Toss in herbs reserving some to sprinkle on top.

We served this at room temperature, but it is good cold or warm too.

Serves 10

This would also be good as a de-veganized dish with feta, goat cheese or bacon in the mix.